Control of H2 and CO produced in partial oxidation process

Abstract

A process for enhancing H2 or CO production in a partial oxidation reaction by feeding H2O or CO2 with the feed hydrocarbon and oxygen over a transition metal monolith catalyst such as unsupported Ni monolith or alternatively contacting the hydrocarbon/oxygen first with a noble metal then with a transition metal with the H2O or CO2 being added before or after the noble metal catalyst. The addition of H2O suppresses CO and enhances H2 production and the addition of CO2 suppresses H2 and enhances CO production. Little steam or CO2 reforming occurs with the addition of up to 32% H2O or CO2 respectively. Thus, the ratio of H2:CO which is about 2 in a conventional partial oxidation is manipulated by the addition of either water or CO2 to the partial oxidation.

The invention claimed is:  
     
       1. A process for controlling the H 2  and CO concentrations produced in a hydrocarbon partial oxidation process comprising: 
       feeding a stream comprising a hydrocarbon and oxygen through a first catalyst zone comprising at least one noble metal monolith catalyst and a second catalyst zone comprising a nickel metal monolith catalyst, wherein the noble metal is selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, and Pt; and  
       feeding H 2 O to the stream to control the amounts of H 2  and CO produced;  
       wherein the overall process occurs in the substantial absence of reforming and under autothermal partial oxidation conditions comprising a gas hourly space velocity of at least 60,000 hr −1 .  
     
     
       2. The process according to claim  1  wherein the H 2 O is fed with the hydrocarbon and the oxygen to contact the noble metal monolith catalyst. 
     
     
       3. The process according to claim  2  wherein the H 2 O is fed to the stream after the noble metal monolith catalyst and prior to the nickel metal monolith catalyst. 
     
     
       4. The process according to claim  1  wherein the catalysts are configured in a multi-bed reactor. 
     
     
       5. The process according to claim  1  wherein the gas hourly space velocity is no greater than 3,000,000 hr −1 . 
     
     
       6. The process according to claim  1  wherein the catalyst contact time ranges from 0.1 millisecond to 20 milliseconds. 
     
     
       7. The process according to claim  1  wherein the nickel metal monolith catalyst comprises spheres of sintered nickel. 
     
     
       8. The process according to claim  1  wherein the H 2 :CO ratio produced is more than 2.